I didn’t expect this to be an interesting thread. I was wrong.

Canada’s geography really separates east from west between the Hudson Bay and the Great Lakes. Not being Canadian, I’m a little curious how that affects Canadian politics.

He's making it up.

https://dailyhive.com/canada/alberta-poll-canada-join-united-states

Perhaps he only reads right wing nutters' web sites like this one: https://simonmercieca.com/2025/05/20/bye-bye-canada-why-alberta-is-poised-to-join-the-united-states/ where it says:

As is usual on such pages none of the assertions are backed by actual numbers.

I note that you raised two quite separate strands of thought amone those not wanting to be governed from Ottawa:

Independence. I.e. Alberta becomes a sovereign nation. How that would work only its residents can decide.

Change of nationality. I.e Alberta becomes an American state, not independent at all, and subject now to a different policies, laws, public services, etc. Alberta has a border with the USA's Washington state, but is otherwise surrounded by Canada, along borders defined simply by longitude and latitude lines.

One effect is that Canadians travelling between British Columbia the rest of the Southern half of their country, would be crossing into a foreign country and out the other side.

I think the USA option raises another practical point. I believe Canada fully uses the SI units of measure, as the UK does for almost everything. The USA insists keeping the Imperial units (it calls them "American"), outside of science and engineering. I wonder how that would work? ..


Secession calls are quite common around the world. The Basques in Northern Spain, Scots and Welsh wanting to dis-unite the United Kingdom, various European and Asian lands with their own motives.

Nationalist sentiment in Northern Ireland is different though, wanting to merge with Eire; more like the Albertans wanting to become American, though with more historical logic.

The difference is that those Irish and Canadians want to join established nations.


Full independence is a very different matter. "Newania" would need establish and pay all by itself for its own:

Its own currency and fiscal system,
Security services, Customs, Police and Judiciary,
Civil Service,
Legal system including national laws on e.g. enviromental protection that could affect the neighbours,
Education, health and welfare services - buildings and personnel, and benefits systems.
Postal and telephony services,
Motor-vehicle and Driver Licencing and taxing,
Military services,
Roads, railways, airports, harbours (Alberta is land-locked; Wales, Ulster and Scotland are not).
Electrical and gas networks,
Diplomatic services and missions.

It would have to negotiate new relationships with its neighbours including the nation of which it was once part; and its own memberships of a slew of international bodies, treaties and alliances. (The UK belongs to about ninety of these, e.g. UN, NATO, ISO, MarPol, ...)

All difficult and expensive; and made more difficult by risking peculiar mis-matches in laws, etc; a result of over-"devolution" in the UK.

Fine if Newania has a sizeable population and thriving industry that can export lots of goods and/or services. If not, it could really struggle if no longer supported by the rest of its erstwhile nation and having insufficient resources and income for self-support. For our own example, Scotland might make it alone but I doubt Wales could.

(European secessionists wanting their Newlandia to join the EU, are gambling first on being allowed, and secondly, being supported by taxpayer-funded grants from the rest of the bloc. I do not know if an American Alberta would receive parallel support from the USA at large.)


I fear many of the breakaway calls in some countries are from a mixture of "greener grass" disaffection, historical grudges that really should be laid to rest, overweening optimism, and pure romanticism based on centuries past.

I believe there is an Alberta independence movement, though not anywhere near large enough to be a realistic possibility. There are various issues, including that most of Alberta is indigenous treaty lands.

There are a few in Alberta who still wear short pants that still want a parent to look after them. They recognise that Canada is an abusive parent so they want to run to the USA to look after them. Most Albertans don't want to join the US. There is a strong Independence movement in Alberta but most of those independents know that swapping Washington for Ottawa isn't a real solution and thus they want to form their own country and make their own government, laws and trade deals as an independent nation.

"Currently, Alberta is not formally asking to join the USA, but there is a growing movement within the province that supports the idea of secession. Recent polls indicate that 18% of Albertans are in favor of joining the United States, with Alberta leading the country in support of this concept. However, Alberta has not declared independence and has not applied to join the USA, and Premier Danielle Smith has stated that she does not personally support secession. The movement is fueled by frustration with federal policies, and while there is public support, it remains a topic of debate and has not led to any formal actions."

Daily Hive

Presently:

"85% of Greenlanders oppose the idea of joining the United States, according to a recent poll conducted in January 2025. Only 6% support the idea, while 9% are undecided. This indicates a strong sentiment against U.S. annexation among the Greenland population."

factually.com

Speculation about Trumps negotiations at Davos, (inside the United States), is that Trump will obtain control of Greenland in SOME way, shape, or form.

It's odd to me that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is encouraging this, when he knows full well there is no legal mechanism for US states to secede from the US, in fact to join the current administration, he sold a second home in Charleston SC which had a direct view out toward Fort Sumter, where the first US civil war began because states cannot legally secede. My understanding is there is no legal means for provinces to secede from Canada either. So all of this secession or independence talk is utter rubbish.

The planet already has a ridiculous number of nations as it is, and futher splintering them into even more nations won't help anything. If anything, we need to be moving in the opposite direction, e.g., eventually all of North American should be one nation, as a stepping stone on the path of eventually dissolving all nations and admitting that this is just one planet, with one shared atmosphere, etc.

All politics aside, would the quality of life and the standard of living improve for Albertans if they were to become the 51st state? Would their taxes improve, would access to goods and services improve, and would medical care improve? Would their economy improve?

I think if Alberta managed to get it done, it would trigger a domino effect, with several neighboring provinces and territories wanting to join too.

My thought is that is a hallucination as you mentioned. Many Americans want their state to join Canada.

About 12% of Albertans are Rumpers. I don't know why they don't just move down there instead of trying to force an issue that is impossible. Alberta will never be part of USA. Not even sure why the news post updates about it, the idea is ridiculous. They even had a referendum and the idea was solidly rejected.

I believe it is a vocal minority that wants to separate. Many are Trump supporters. We call them Maple MAGA. Lol

there is a petition that california wants to join denmark... it has already 80000 subscribers....

There are are some maple maga Albertans that want to join the US. Some Albertans want to seperate; they have enough names in a petition now to hold a referendum.

No, we don’t need to join anyone

No there's like... maybe 20-25% of the population. But they're noisy and quietly supported by the government.

better than CHYNA

Another nut case

The first nation people will never allow it. It's BS

The Edmonton Oilers would get way more appreciation as a US based NHL club than they do as a Canada based one. Alberta’s oil and natural gas reserves would be harvested and benefit Alberta’s residents. More businesses would be established again benefiting Alberta’s residents.


When it comes to Greenland the residents will fin that the only change to their daily lives will be improved income, living conditions and safety.